A new international marketing agreement between the Walt Disney Company and the Coca-Cola Company is set to help promote Minute Maid's healthy fruit juice beverages for children

Some of Disney’s most beloved characters, such as Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh, are set to front a new brand of nutritious beverages aimed at children. The campaign follows an innovative marketing agreement between the Walt Disney Company and the Coca-Cola Company, which is going to sell products from its Minute Maid brand under the Disney banner.

The agreement aims to make healthy nutritious children’s drinks more appealing by adding the magic of the Disney brand to Minute Maid products. The two companies will together market new healthy fruit juices, milk drinks, water-based drinks, punches and smoothies. These products will be packaged in entertaining and colourful containers featuring Disney’s characters.

The first two product’s to hit the market, in 2001 in the US and 2002 globally, will be “Mickey’s X-treme Coolers” and “Pooh’s 100 Acre Wood Apple-Berry.” The first is a vitamin-fortified juice drink that will include flavours such as Raspberry Rage, Bora Bora Berry and Citrus Chiller.

The second product is a 100% juice drink containing four apple and berry blends and fortified with vitamin C and calcium.

“We’re delighted that this relationship brings together two of the world’s most trusted consumer brands,” said Don Knauss, president and CEO of the Minute Maid Company. “These healthful beverages will meet with parents’ needs and are fun for kids.”

Andy Mooney, president of Disney Consumer Products Worldwide, added, “The Disney and Minute Maid brands have consistently delivered quality products and value to consumers for generations. This agreement represents an exciting new direction for Disney and a unique way to bring Disney magic to children worldwide.”

The deal is set to form a formidable partnership between two powerful symbols of western consumerism, which could prove to be a seductive hook in the junior drinks market.